Transcript Islam: Origins - Gerry-Sozio-SOR

By Nicole, Talina, Brodi, Kayla and Clare.
Islam is a religion founded in the Arabian Peninsula on 600s CE by
Muhammad but seen as the true and final revelation of God following
and superseding those profits before Muhammad e.g. Jesus.
Islam means ‘submission’. Its sacred book is the Qur’an which was
revealed to Muhammad, the prophet of Allah. There are two main
sects: the Sunni and the Shi’ia.
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Arabic Peoples:
The Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. 25% of the
land is desert and while these are fertile areas, there are many areas that
suffer badly from extremes in temperature, lack of water and poor soils.
Arabs are said to be the descendants of Ishmael, one of the sons of the
prophet Muhammad. The word Arab means ‘nomad’.
There was no unified government during 7th Century CE in the region
and no single tribe managed to dominate others. Instead, individual
tribes held power in particular parts of the country and kept their
positions by means of scheming and warfare. This created stresses on
traditional tribal values.
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Before the time of the prophet the Arab tribes by and large held animistic
beliefs. They worshipped various local deities and nature spirits. Megaliths
(sacred stones) as well as trees and springs were venerated and spirits were
held to inhabit the desert sands. The Arabs also believe in jinn, or demon
spirits.
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Religious practices from these pre-Islamic times included forms of worship
that were taken up and made characteristics of Islam itself. These practices
included pilgrimage and certain rituals at sacred places, such as walking
around megaliths.
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During the early centuries of the Common Era small communities of both
Jews and Christians could be found in Arabia, but they lacked social and
political influence. Women were considered to be property. They could be
brought or sold into marriage or slavery. They had no inheritance rights. Men
however, could marry as many women as they wished or could afford.
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Female infanticide was not uncommon. The ethical code was firmly based on
tribal links and experiences rather than on communal responsibilities.
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Mecca and Medina are located in a mountainous region of
Western Arabia, near the red sea. Mecca was more important and
prosperous of the two centers because of its place at the crossroads
of major caravan and pilgrimage routes. There towns became the
staging ground for an entire new religion.
The people of Mecca worshipped a high god called Allah together
with a large number of other lesser deities. The centre of the
pilgrimage and worship in Mecca was a shrine called the Ka’aba.
The shrine was said to be built by Ishmael and his father Abraham
but as time passed it became a centre of idol worship.
Mecca was dominated by the powerful Quraish tribe which had
guardianship of the Ka’aba shrine and its sacred megaliths.
The Quraish were not a tribe of pastoral nomads but an urban
community which engaged in commerce and handicraft as well as
religious stewardship. They had powerful interests in the activities
of trade and the pagan religion that brought many visitors to
Mecca.
The Prophet’s Early Life
 Muhammad is the founded of Islam and he was
born into the Quarish tribe at Mecca around the
time of 570CE. He was the posthumous son of
Abdulla, whose name means ‘slave of Allah’. The
prophet’s own name means ‘highly praised’ and he
was orphaned from a young age and was raised at
first by his grandfather.
 His grandfather, Abdul-Muttalib was a believer in
God and it was because of this belief that
Muhammad was introduced to the life of religion at
a very early age. When Muhammad’s grandfather
died when he was about eight years of age, he was
transferred to the care of an uncle, Abu Talib who
would eventually adopt him.
The Prophet’s Youth
 From the age of twelve the Prophet took an active
role in Abu Talib’s enterprises and in which
Muhammad accompanied him on caravan
journeys to Syria, this is where he came into
contact with Jewish and Christian communities.
 The communities knew him as a person of
integrity, in his twenties he entered the employ of
a wealthy and respected widow named Khadijah
and he became the main overseer of her evergrowing caravan business. They both got married
to each when Muhammad was twenty-five and she
was forty, and together they had six children. It
was only after she died did he take on other wives.
 As
the Prophet grew older, he became
increasingly contemplative. Even as a young boy
he had shown a deep reflective character and he
frequently expressed dissatisfaction with the low
moral tone of his time and lamenting on the
absence of a coherent Arab faith.
 He began to keep regular company with the
hanifs, who are native Arabian monotheist who
were neither Jew nor Christian. Muhammad
would often withdraw into the solitude of the
nearby hills for days on end to pray and
contemplate the meaning of life.
The Prophet’s Practice
 As time went on by, the Prophet would more and
more visit a particular cave on Mount Hira, a
huge and barren rock a few kilometers outside
Mecca.
 Frequently, he do all-night vigils, he’d meditate
on deep religious matters. Finally, in 610 when he
was forty years old, he had the first of a series of
extraordinary experiences which would continue
throughout his life.
The Prophet’s Revelations
 One night when Muhammad was meditating in his
favourite cave, the Prophet received an awe-inspiring
revelation from a most powerful spiritual being that is
later identified as the Archangel Gabriel. The angel
announced that Muhammad was to be the messenger of
Allah. For quite some time he received no further
communication and he discussed with his wife and close
associates the ideas which had already come to him about
the unity and supremacy of Allah, the fear of hell and the
reward of paradise.
 Then the revelations from Gabriel suddenly resumed,
when these mystical experiences were upon him, the
Prophet sometimes felt they came with an unearthly
weight. A story is told of how he received a revelation
while riding atop a camel one day and on becoming once
more aware of his surroundings he found his camel still
underneath him with its legs splayed out and its belly
pressed flat to the sand.
 These
revelations varied over frequency for the
next twenty-three until the Prophet’s death in
632. On each occasion he’d remembered exactly
what the angel revealed to him in phrases of the
most exalted poetic language.
 Later these verses were memorized and written
down by the Prophet’s followers. After his death
they were all collected to make up the Qur’an
which is now a sacred scripture of Islam.
The Prophet Begins Preaching
 The Prophet and his followers had little social impact
as a religious movement. After some time he then
began to speak more boldly about the ideas he held
dear to himself. He encouraged those around him
and the people to reject their tribal idols, to show
charity to the poor and to free their slaves.
Muhammad talked of equality and justice and he
gradually gathered a significant following which met
resistance from those who were strongly committed
to their ancestral beliefs.
 Eventually the authorities in Mecca perceived the
Prophet as a political threat to their established order
and he and his followers were subjected to violent
persecution. They were smeared with filth, stoned,
beaten, tortured and even killed. Only Muhammad
was spared because of his wife.
The fight to Medina:
 While the prophet had few followers in his own city his
reputation had spread. He was secretly invited to preach
his message in the town of Yathrib. In 622CE he fled the
dangerous environment of Mecca and travelled 300km
north. This event is known as the Hegira or emigration
and Muslims believe this to be the point in the history of
the world at which their religion was founded. This year
was adopted as the first year on the calendar. He was well
received at what is now known in English as Medina.
The first Islamic city:
 In medina the prophet took up religious duties and built
the first mosque. He soon became the sole ruler of
Medina and instigated new traditions such as Friday as
the Muslim holy day.
The conquest of Mecca:
 The prophet continued to live in Medina and in order to gain
money, arms and supplies he organized raids on the
commercial caravans. In 624 the cause of Islam and the
prophets own reputation was boosted with the victory over
superior Meccan forces in the battle of Badr. After this many
Arab tribes converted to Islam. During the battle of Uhud
Muhammad marched on Mecca itself and the city
surrendered. He went to Ka’aba were he destroyed all idols of
false gods and Mecca quickly converted to the Muslim faith.
Soon after it became the spiritual centre of Islam although
political power remained in Medina for some time.
Arabia falls to Islam:
 Muhammad set out to bring all feuding tribes together under
the banner of Islam. He achieved this in less than two years
and then died suddenly in 632. After a short period of
consolidation known as the ‘Wars of Ridda’, when many tribes
turned away from Islam and had to be coerced back into the
fold, the Muslim community continued to expand and grow.
The prophet’s call:
 The Koran is the culmination of the process whereby Allah,
the one god of Abraham, reveals his full and final truth. Islam
considers the prophets before Muhammad such as Jesus and
Moses and to be equal in dignity but the prophet M is the final
word, the complete authority.
The prophet’s status:
 Since there are no further revelations after the Koran Prophet
M is called the ‘the seal of the prophets’ for none will come
after him. Prophets are sinless and the highest model of correct
behavior in Muslim life. The 2nd most authoritative Islamic text
the Sunna covers the traditions and practices of prophet M and
Muslims should emulate.
The Attractions of Islam:
 This basis of this faith is very simple with the message of
‘there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet’. The
essential teachings of Islam were easy to understand and its
devotional exercises were simple to perform. The concept of
brotherhood and equality among all the races and classes of
the faithful was also very enticing.
Abu Bakr
The prophet Muhammad never appointed anyone to take his
place. After his death, most followers turned to his friend Abu
Bakr to be Caliph. He was called 'the truthful'. While he was in
this position he brought Muslim tribes together, put bits of the
Qur'an which had been written down together and launched
Islamic armies against the Persian and Byzantine Roman
empires.
Umar
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The next Caliph after Abu Bakr and Muhammad's father-inlaw. He was called 'the one who distinguishes'. He extended the
Islamic empire into Palestine, Syria, Egypt and North Africa
but unusually, he did not use force to convert other people to
the Islam religion. Many of the inhabitants of these countries
converted willingly. Umar established a council to select the
next Caliph by a process of consultation.
Uthman
 The third Caliph, son-in-law of Muhammad. Uthman gathered
all the available materials and produced the Qur'an in the
Quraysh dialect of the Arabic, which was replicated by all the
other copies which were produced since. Uthman extended
Muslim rule into Libya and eastern Europe. There were
rebellions in Iraq and Egypt against his policy of giving wealth
and land that were won in war, to members of his family.
Eventually he was murdered.
Ali
 The last Caliph, called 'the gate of learning'. He was son-in-law
and cousin of the prophet. There has been much controversy
over him being selected as some believed he should have been
selected earlier and some believed he shouldn't because they
thought he was responsible for Uthman's murder. During his
time in the position there was a serious struggle for political
power which led to a major schism which still exists in Islam
today. After his death, a new dynasty began.
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This division (mentioned above) was created over an
old argument about whether leadership should be
given to those chosen by a council (what the Sunni
believe) or whether it should have been given to
relatives of the Prophet (what the Shi'ite believe).
Some people said from the start that the Prophet
himself had wanted Ali to inherit the position.
When Ali was elected he was challenged by
Mu'awiya, who came from the Umayyad family of
the third Caliph. They met in battle. Ali allowed two
arbiters to settle the dispute and though he was
named as the fourth Caliph he was distressed to see
he had been tricked into letting human judgment
settle what should have been an issue of inheritance.
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Ali's followers believe he should have been made Caliph first. A
number among them were angry that he allowed arbitration and
they split from the main body of Islam. When he was murdered ,
this consolidated the growth of this different branch of Islam
which eventually became the sect of Shi'ite Muslims.
Shi'ites believe the community does not have authority, as only the
direct descendant of the Prophet should. Shi'ite Muslims reject the
first three of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs, accepting only Ali
as Imam (divinely ordained leader) and regarding he and his son
Hussein as martyrs and as sinless. These are extremely
controversial principles for non-Shi'ite Muslims.
Shi'ite sects vary in the number of Imams they
recognise, with most believing in twelve, the last
being a 'hidden' Imam, who disappeared in 878.
They believe he will someday reappear as Imam
Mahdi (Rightly Guided Imam) to initiate the events
leading up to Judgment Day. In the meantime he is
inspiration for the mujtahids (learned men) of the
Shi'ite community who are responsible for
interpreting Islamic law and guiding the community.
'Twelver Shi'ism' has been the state religion of Iran
since the sixteenth century. The Isma'ilis ('seveners')
are the largest minority sect. They accept only up to
the seventh Imam in line. The Zaidis of Yemen
accept only up to the fifth.
 The Umma (world Muslim community) is currently
about one billion people, 15% of them Shi'ites.
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 Muslims
display their Islamic beliefs through
every day practices, guided chiefly by the
teachings in the Qur'an. The Qur'an is the holy
book that serves as the blueprint for the life that
Muslims believe Allah prescribed. The Qur'an,
along with the Sunnah, and the Hadith,
practices and traditions of the prophet
Muhammad, provides guidance and direction
for daily living. the practicing Muslim must pray
five times a day, fast yearly during Ramadan,
contribute to the poor, and make a pilgrimage to
Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime.
There are 6 main beliefs underlying the Islamic religion
they are:
 Belief in the Oneness of God (Allah). This view stems
from the belief that God is one being, and there are no
other creators but God.
 Belief in the holy book this concept pertains to the
Muslims belief in the qur’an
 Belief in the angels. Muslims believe that angels are the
messengers of god.
 Belief in the Prophet. Muslims believe that Muhammad
was the last prophet sent by Allah.
 Belief in the Day of Judgment. This stems from the
Islamic belief that there is life after death and that one's
actions as an earthly being shall be judged by the Creator
(Allah).
 Belief in predestination. Muslims believe that Allah
predestines one's life in reference to good versus evil.